The field of the disclosure relates generally to motors, and more particularly, to systems and methods for enabling a motor controller to communicate with external devices that use different communication protocols.
At least some known systems used in fluid moving applications, such as pumping water or moving air (e.g., in a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system) include a motor, for example a variable speed electric motor, coupled to a motor controller. In some known systems that include motors and motor controllers, the motor and the motor controller are configured to communicate using a single communication protocol. For example, the communication protocol may be associated with a manufacturer of the motor and the motor controller. Additionally, a diagnostic tool or configuration tool produced by the same manufacturer and configured to communicate using the communication protocol may be coupled to the motor or motor controller to configure operating parameters of the motor and/or obtain status codes and/or fault codes. However, external devices such as system level controllers, user interfaces, diagnostic tools, or configuration tools generated by a different manufacturer may be incompatible with the system. More specifically, such external devices may not be configured to communicate using the particular communication protocol used by the system. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to enable a motor controller to communicate with external devices that use different communication protocols.